Killarney Autocross Weekend - 3-4 Aug 02

Posted: August 13, 2002 5:27 PM

15 Specials and 31 cars lined up for the Saturday event. After the first run, it looked like another Gordon Percy domination. Double driving Noel Moynihan’s Opel engined Special he led Eon Woods in the screaming Suzuki Special by just over a second. However a damaged head left Noel Moynihan’s machine a non runner for the rest of the meeting and this seemed to spur everyone else on: Over the next 3 runs the times began to tumble with the lead changing hands at every run!

Ger Brennan was by far and away the fastest saloon on the first run, but once Jimmy Devane got used to the Cherry again, his times got closer to Brennan’s Mid Engined Fiesta Cosworth.

On the clocks it was Woods who was fastest on the second run with a time of 54.9 seconds, but knocking a marker added a 5 seconds to his time. Through it all Munster champion Gerard Lucey who lost time with a half spin and a 10 second penalty on his first run, keep it together to edge out Richard Percy by just under a second. Percy went one better on the third run to bring the fastest time of the day down to 52.7 seconds, from the every improving Willie Kavanagh. As the track got faster he was able to get more traction from his monster V8 Special, but was still nearly 2 seconds off Percy. Eoin Woods was still flying, but knocking another marker cost him third fastest time. Roll on the final run!

Percy was first of the Specials to take to the track, but was 0.04 seconds slower that his previous run. Gerard Lucey could only find 1 of the 2 seconds he needed to take the win. He was hopeful that he had done enough for 2nd but there was more drama, Dorothy Kavanagh drove brilliantly to get ahead of Lucey, only for Willie Kavanagh to put in the drive of the day to beat Percy and set the fastest time of the day by 0.1 of a second! While all this was going on, Gordon Percy and Noel Moynihan were busy rebuilding their specials’ engine at the venue for the Sunday event.

In the saloon class Ger Brennan just did enough to hold off Jimmy Devane, both taking class wins. In a class dominated by Honda’s the lone Toyota Starlet of Sean Allen won class 1 by the narrowest margin of 0.04 seconds from Cathal Daly. Again the competition had been fierce with the lead changing hands after every run with Mike Brosnan and Willie Fitzgerald each having lead early in the day. In class 2 (a) Donal Kenny came within a second of Jimmy Devane to state his intentions for the following days meeting. Whitby Moynan (Sunbeam), Joe O'Byrne (Escort), Anthony Kelleher (Sunbeam) were the leading drivers in class 2 (b), Kelleher’s challenge had been dented by knocking marker on 3 of his 4 runs. A tidier approached was need by the club chairman for Sunday! Leading Junior and 35th overall was Daniel Barry in a Nova.

The action got underway at the earlier time of 12 noon on Sunday with a field of 55 entries. Clerk of the Course Pat Russell and his crew had laid out a new track, using only a small section of the previous days course. Eoin Woods set off in determined fashion to try and go one better but the Suzuki motorbike engined special stopped on his first run. Frantic work by his crew got him going on the 2nd run to try and beat early leader Jimmy Lucey. Woods managed to beat Lucey but now we had a new leader in Owen Percy, his time less than half a second up on Woods. However both Percy and Woods were forced to miss the rest of the day’s action with mechanical problems, but despite the best efforts of the rest of the field no one could beat the 2 in front. The action made great watching for the spectators, as Richard Percy, Gerard Lucey, early leader Jimmy Lucey and the previous days winner Willie Kavanagh all tried to set fastest time of the day.

In the class1 Cathal Daly went one better to win the Sunday event, although it was Willie Fitzgerald who again set the early pace. Jimmy Devane again won class 2 but a late charge on the final run gave JJ Carroll the fastest saloon award and Class 3 (a). After 3 penalty free runs Anthony Kelleher came out on top in Class 2(b), despite the late entry of Gordon Percy in the class. Father and son Mike Snr& Jnr O’Connor again finished up 1-2 in Class 3 (b). Dorothy Kavanagh just held off Denise McClearn by ½ a second to win the ladies award on both days. Mary Hogan who had been 3rd lady on the Saturday had 2 big spins and was unable to close the gap on Sunday. Leading Junior was again Daniel Barry.

All this means Richard Percy and Gerard Lucey are 4 points apart with 1 round of the Darby O' Gills Killarney Autocross Championship remaining. Cathal Daly is now only 3 points behind Willie Fitzgerald in Class but with everyone having one score to drop, the lead is even smaller. James Lehane has a slight edge in Class 2, despite Jimmy Devane’s 2 maximum scores. A fantastic run all year by JJ Carroll means the Rockchapel driver has already won class 3. Despite missing the Double Header weekend, Joe Shinnors still leads class 4. On dropped scores, Mark O' Shaughnessy & Johnny Hickey are level at the top of the Junior Table, with Daniel Lucey a very close Third.

			Saturday		
Class	 	No.	Name	Car	Fastest Time
	1st O/A	405	Willie Kavanagh	V8 Special	0:52.62

1 (a)	1	102	Sean Allen	Toyota Starlet	1:00.96
	2	129	Cathal Daly	Honda CRX	1:01.00
	3	120	Willie Fitzgerald Honda Civic	1:01.28
2 (a)	1	242	Jimmy  Divane	Nissan Sunny	0:57.68
	2	204	Donal  Kenny	Opel Corsa	0:58.62
	3	200	Barry Driver	Fiat Uno	0:59.59
2 (b)	1	221	Whitby Moynan	Talbot Sunbeam	1:01.06
	2	99	Joe O'Byrne	Ford Escort	1:06.90
	3	217	Anthony Kelliher Talbot Sunbeam	1:15.12
3 (a)	1	333	Ger Brennan	Ford Fiesta	0:57.18
	2	318	J.J Carroll	Opel Astra	0:59.68
	3	310	Timmy  Healy	V.W Golf	1:01.84
3 (b)	1	67	Mike Snr O,Connor Ford Escort	1:05.53
	2	367	Mike Jnr O,Connor Ford Escort	1:07.09
4 (a)	1	1	Richard Percy	Ford Special	0:52.71
	2	41	Dorothy Cavanagh Suzuki Special	0:53.06
	3	512	Gerard Lucy	Toyota Special	0:53.81
4 (b)	1	411	John Kavanagh	V8 Special	0:55.59
	2	413	Derek Driver Nissan Sunny GTIR	1:00.06
	3	600	Jimmy  Lucey	Rover Special	1:03.53
5	1	502	Daniel Barry	Vauxhall Nova	1:01.31
	2	555	Daniel Lucey	Honda Civic	1:03.75
	3	215	Johnny Hickey	Vauxhall Nova	1:04.43

			Sunday		
Class	 	No.	Name	Car	Fastest Time

	1st O/A	132	Owen Percy	Honda Special	1:27.62

1 (a)	1	129	Cathal Daly	Honda CRX	1:39.84
	2	120	Willie Fitzgerald Honda Civic	1:41.84
	3	107	Mark O'Shaughnessy Honda Civic	1:50.53
2 (a)	1	242	Jimmy  Divane	Nissan Sunny	1:36.96
	2	204	Donal  Kenny	Opel Corsa	1:40.53
	3	202	Bryan Kenny	Opel Corsa	1:40.87
2 (b)	1	217	Anthony Kelliher Talbot Sunbeam	1:42.62
	2	221	Whitby Moynan	Talbot Sunbeam	1:42.84
	3	22	Gordon Percy	Talbot Sunbeam	1:43.93
3 (a)	1	318	J.J Carroll	Opel Astra	1:36.71
	2	333	Ger Brennan	Ford Fiesta	1:37.87
	3	310	Timmy  Healy	V.W Golf	1:40.62
3 (b)	1	367	Mike Jnr O,Connor Ford Escort	1:45.12
	2	67	Mike Snr O,Connor Ford Escort	1:45.56
4 (a)	1	416	Eoin Woods	Suzuki Special	1:28.00
	2	1	Richard Percy	Ford Special	1:29.43
	3	512	Gerard Lucy	Toyota Special	1:31.12
4 (b)	1	600	Jimmy  Lucey	Rover Special	1:29.37
	2	411	John Kavanagh	V8 Special	1:32.65
	3	412	Billy Cavanagh	Rover Special	1:33.21
5	1	502	Daniel Barry	Vauxhall Nova	1:41.21
	2	555	Daniel Lucey	Honda Civic	1:46.03
	3	215	Johnny Hickey	Vauxhall Nova	1:46.71

Full Results and Times